What year of WWF Did you prefer: 1997 or 1998
 

Took a bit of a break from from 1984 chronological rewatch and started watching a lot of 97 Raw and Shotgun. It was a transition year for the company and I feel is highly under-rated. I'm possibly putting it ahead of 98 in terms of personal enjoyment. There was so much great stuff:

Hart Foundation vs D/X
HHH vs Cactus Jack
Bret va Shawn
Owen and Bulldog having a great run as tag champs
Austin vs Owen/Bret/Pillman

So much good stuff. Now it definitely still had some stench from the previous "every wrestler has to have an occupation " era, but it's still really friggen good.

I preferred elements of 1997 much more than 98 but as a whole 1998 is vastly superior.

like to me Hart Foundation is my fave stable of all time. But Steve Austin on top can't be touched.

Going back and watching the two years, 1998 WWF ages worse than 97 WWF by far.

1997 much better with the Hart Foundation, and Austin's feud with Bret and the Foundation is better than Austin on top.

I'm trying to find a way to summarize my feelings on this, and I think this gets closest to them. 1997 had some really great stuff critically, but overall it's against a backdrop of "not there yet." 1998 is when things got hot, and that zeitgeist adds a lot to stuff that might not even be as good. 1998 is like a really good blockbuster, but 1997 is like a really brilliantly crafted drama that may not have the same widespread appeal, but you appreciate on a more nuanced level.

I don't really know which I prefer. I'd take that two year period for its artistic and commercial greatness (well, with the top stuff).

This is such a tough question. There was great stuff, and in hindsight, shitty stuff, in both years. The only differences to me are that 1998 felt like a bigger deal, and, in the moment, even the shitty stuff in 1998 seemed better than it was. I don't remember the bad stuff in 1997 at the time, seeming to be better than it was.

I think 97 WWF is the best they ever had story wise.

Leaning towards '98 even though '97 had some really great stuff happen.

1997 still had some New Gen era residue to it although not as conspicuous as 1996 while 1998 is full on Attitude Era and built off the Montreal Screwjob as its key starting point.

Between the two years, Austin's best Mania match happens in 1997 against Bret but enjoyed his feud with Vince a year a lot more overall.

interesting.

Probably 1998, but I haven't really watched/gone back to anything from those years since. Plus I was a WCW guy back then.

Go check out some 97 Shotgun Saturday Night episodes on youtube. Pillman does commentary with Ross for like 6 months and they are tremendous. Lots of good matches and Pillman is insane on commentary.

I posted a video below. This uploader put up like 20 episodes and I've watched all of them over the past month. So addicting.

pfft you don't think I'm aware of Shotgun Pillman after reading Crazy like a fox?

98. Beginning of 97 was not that great, 98 was solid all the way through...

In 97 we had the rise of Austin, the beginning of Austin/McMahon... the amazing Hart Foundation/Austin feud. Great PPV matchs like Austin/Hart, Taker/Austin, Taker/Mankind, HHH/Cactus, Funk/Cactus, HBK/Austin, HBK/HHH vs Mankind/Taker, the last great Road Warriors run, Canadian Stampede, Taker/Bret, and of course Montreal. It was really my favorite year for wrestling ever. I was 10 years old, I was already calling the insider hotlines for the scoops... it was the beginning of me falling in love with the business.

Yeah the 1st half of 97 was butt. The Rumble was butt, Mania was butt. It didn’t really get great until the Hart Foundation and DX started their stuff. After that it was tremendous. Except for that god awful Nation/Boricuas/DOA race war feud they tried to make happen.

97 Rumble > 98 Rumble

say whaaaaaaaaaat

97 they had a multi tag match with luchadors

98 they had a multi tag match with midget luchadors

No contest

Flynn Vs. Blackman!

You got me there. Max Mini 4 life.

I will say though that my opinion of 97 WWF may be a bit colored by me being firmly emotionally entrenched in the Sting/nWo feud for all of 97. I watched both but if I had to choose one over the other in 97 I was definitely picking WCW. After Starrcade 97 that switched though.

'97. It had a lot of great material. It was the diamond in the rough. '98 was the polished entertaining product.

This for me, to the letter.

The King of the Ring commercial with Jerry Lawler is amazing.

you really sussed it out right here /thread - hail supreme.

Shotgun would have these random 8 man tags with guys from AAA. Such a random show.

Sid crapped himself in 1997.

My perception of it was that it was like a Jakked/Metal show, so going back and discovering that it was far more eclectic is really fun.

97 was my fav year in wrestling by far, so 1997.

1998, Austin on top, rise of Mr McMahon, The Rocks ascension. 1998 KOTR with Mankind, then Mankind great Babyface turn. Undertaker going full satanic. DX invading WCW. Mike Tyson. The Nation vs DX feud.

1997 was great, no arguing that, but 1998 gets my vote.

Up there for one of the best one-two punch years for the WWF.

Jerry Flynn was very under used by WCW. He was better at martial arts then Ernest Miller. His promos were better then Dean Malenko. His mullet was way cooler then Mike Awesomes. His in ring abilty was better then Goldberg, they just booked him wrong. Fucking Kevin Sullivan!

This is true. I'm a huge freak for nostalgia and I love them both but at the time I def would have said 1998

I also preferred watching Rick Fuller in WCW!

1997 definitely has the better actual wrestling matches, right? If revisiting that is your thing.

97 because there is Shawn & Bret, Austin & McMahon, Austin & Hart Foundation, Austin & McMahon, DX, Taker & Kane ... best time for my fandom ever, it won't get any better because I will never be 10 again.

I've never watched 1997 raw and shotguns so I'm gonna start that soon. I loved all the stuff from 1998 (1998 was when I started watching wrestling hardcore like every week beginning at WM14

Yeah I would say so.. If we are talking strictly wrestling matches then I would pick 97 even before I had re watched basically the whole attitude era a couple years ago. I def have more memorable matches burned in my brain from 1997 than 1998.